SLO's ch. 5 Flashcards
Summarize the fundamental features of
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
According to Piaget, all children pass gradually through
the four major stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor,
preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational) and their various substages when they are at
an appropriate level of maturation and are exposed to relevant
types of experiences. In the Piagetian view, children’s
understanding grows through assimilation of their experiences
into their current way of thinking or through
accommodation of their current way of thinking to their
experiences.
Describe Piaget’s sensorimotor stage of cognitive
development.
During the sensorimotor period (birth to about two years)
with its six substages, infants progress from the use of simple
reflexes, through the development of repeated and integrated
actions that gradually increase in complexity, to the
ability to generate purposeful effects from their actions. By
the end of the sixth substage of the sensorimotor period,
infants are beginning to engage in symbolic thought.
Summarize the arguments both in support
of and critical of Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development.
Piaget is respected as a careful observer of children’s behavior
and a generally accurate interpreter of the way human
cognitive development proceeds, though subsequent
research on his theory does suggest several limitations.
Describe how infants process information
according to information processing
approaches to cognitive development
Information processing approaches to the study of cognitive
development seek to learn how individuals receive,
organize, store, and retrieve information. Such approaches
differ from Piaget’s by considering quantitative changes in
children’s abilities to process information
Describe the memory capabilities of infants
their first two years of life.
Infants have memory capabilities from their earliest days,
although the accuracy of infant memories is a matter of
debate.
Describe how infant intelligence is measured
using information processing
approaches
Traditional measures of infant intelligence, such as Gesell’s
developmental quotient and the Bayley Scales of Infant
Development, focus on average behavior observed at
particular
ages in large numbers of children. Information
processing approaches to assessing intelligence rely on
variations in the speed and quality with which infants process
information.
Outline the processes by which children learn
to use language.
Prelinguistic communication involves the use of sounds, gestures,
facial expressions, imitation, and other nonlinguistic
means to express thoughts and states. Prelinguistic communication
prepares the infant for speech. Infants typically produce
their first words between the ages of 10 and 14 months.
At around 18 months, children typically begin to link words
together into primitive sentences that express single thoughts.
Beginning speech is characterized by the use of holophrases,
telegraphic speech, underextension, and overextension.
Outline the major theories of language
development.
The learning theory approach to language acquisition
assumes that adults and children use basic behavioral processes—
such as conditioning, reinforcement, and shaping—
in language learning. A different approach proposed
by Chomsky holds that humans are genetically endowed
with a language-acquisition device, which permits them
to detect and use the principles of universal grammar that
underlie all languages.
Describe how children influence adults’
language.
Adult language is influenced by the children to whom it is
addressed. Infant-directed speech takes on characteristics,
surprisingly invariant across cultures, that make it appealing
to infants and that probably encourage
language development.
Adult language also exhibits differences based on
the gender of the child to whom it is directed, which may
have effects that emerge later in life.
